Scarlet king in shadow slave

Ares woke up the next day as usual, washing his face and getting ready for the day. As he opened his dorm door, he ran into Sunny, who had done the same.

"Morning, Ares. Feeling better?" A hint of concern flickered in her dark eyes.

"Didn't I tell you it was just a stupid dream? I'm tougher than I look. See?" He flexed his biceps, grinning from ear to ear, trying to put her at ease.

Sunny rolled her eyes with a playful sigh. "What a muscle head. Let's just go eat, I'm starving."

Her stomach growled audibly, and she rubbed it with a groan. She needed to fill her malnourished body before the winter solstice, and food was her priority now.

She led the way, Ares following just behind, but his smile faded like it was never there, his thoughts a secret only he knew.

As they entered the cafeteria, they could feel a hundred eyes on them, especially Ares, but neither of them cared.

"Looks like you've become a superstar," Sunny teased, raising an eyebrow. "Should I get an autograph~?"

"How about I get away from you instead? Your 'good' reputation might drag me through the mud," Ares shot back, grinning.

Sunny scoffed. "What did you say, you beast? I'll have you know your reputation isn't any better!"

Ares swatted her playfully on the head. "Yeah, yeah, get to eating, Miss Pervert."

"Hey! I'm not a pervert!" Sunny huffed, her cheeks turning pink. "I'm just honest. The most honest person in two worlds, even!" She grumbled under her breath, 'As if her shadow wasn't lurking in my room just yesterday.'

Ignoring the stares around them, they piled their trays with mountains of food, eating with unbridled hunger. No morsel went uneaten.

Sunny was in a surprisingly good mood. She slept on a soft bed, ate meals that would have lasted her months in the outskirts, and had a companion, a fellow rat, who didn't judge her.

Granted, she still didn't completely trust Ares, but everything he had done so far was with good intentions or had at least not harmed her in any way. Plus, he didn't mind spending time with her, even when she was close to last place. It gave him no real advantage, but still, he stuck around.

Her heart softened just a little. It was nice not to feel alone, not to be seen as a freak or a pervert. Not to be pitied or looked down on.

She hummed as she ate, savoring each bite, occasionally glancing at Ares, who was stuffing his face with an almost comical amount of food. A tiny part of her liked this, the simple moments. Waking up, eating, bickering, studying, resting. It was the life she had always secretly longed for.

But as usual, her [Fated] attribute had other plans.

Her eyes narrowed as she spotted a tall girl with silver hair walking toward them, her movements graceful, almost like an artist's brushstroke.

'Is it just me, or is she walking this way? Nah, can't be. Ares beat her to a pulp just two days ago, right? Any sane person would avoid him... right?'

Apparently, Nephis wasn't sane.

Without a word, Nephis sat right next to Ares, her tray of food in hand, and began eating, as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

'Did Ares give her brain damage or something?! Doesn't she see the stares? At least greet us or something!' Sunny glared daggers at Nephis, her expression clearly one of irritation.

Nephis didn't even glance in Sunny's direction, her eyes fixed on her food, eating with the calmness of someone who had no care in the world.

"So, what brought you here?" Ares finally broke the silence, his voice weirdly steady as he swallowed a mouthful. "Want something?"

Nephis turned to him, her expression as blank as ever. She stared at him for a long moment, and then, with a voice loud enough for the entire cafeteria to hear, she said simply, "You."

The cafeteria went completely silent.

Ares choked on his food. "Pfft—cough cough!" He sputtered, struggling to breathe.

Sunny's body twitched, her face a shade of red that could rival a tomato. A vein bulged on her forehead, and her lips parted, ready to unleash a string of curses, but Ares quickly intervened.

He shot a look at Nephis, his voice lower but still audible, "You better explain yourself. That could be... easily misunderstood."

A tiny ding sounded in Nephis's head as if a light bulb went off. She blinked, her eyes widening slightly. Realizing what she'd just said, her ears flushed red. She hastily stuffed another mouthful of food in her mouth, clearly trying to escape the awkwardness. But before she left, she leaned in close, her breath warm against Ares's ear.

"Tonight," she whispered, her voice so soft it sent a chill down his spine.

And just like that, she was gone, leaving behind a stunned silence and a room full of curious onlookers.

"Are all true-named people like this?" Sunny muttered, her cute little face scrunched up in confusion, forgetting she also has a true name. "What's wrong with her?"

Ares waved it off, shrugging nonchalantly. "Don't mind her. She's just shy and awkward, I guess."

Sunny narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "You two seem close... Is she a masochist?" She leaned forward, her gaze intense. "Or are you a sadist?"

Ares leaned in, his mischievous smile widening. Sunny flinched slightly, and his hand slowly reached out to brush a tiny smudge of food from her cheek.

"Try eating properly next time~" he teased, then flicked her hard on the forehead before standing up, laughing at the midget before him.

"Class is waiting. We don't want to make Julius wait," he said, dodging her as she glared up at him.

"That scumbag!" Sunny spat, her face redder than ever. She couldn't believe she'd frozen earlier.

"I swear I'm going to get you back for this one day, just you wait!" she muttered under her breath, but she couldn't suppress the small smile tugging at her lips.

With a frustrated huff, she followed him like a little duck, bickering all the way to class.

############

Ares had just split up with Sunny after being done with their survival class, Sunny already entered her room, doing God knows what, and since he still had some time to kill before his meeting with nephis, he decided to go for a walk around the academy.

'The academy is really spacious, makes you wonder how many resources they spent on this place.'

That's when he set foot in a small garden area, where greenery surrounded the place, a small fountain lay in the middle, not far from it a big beautiful tree, hiding underneath its leaves a simple wooden bench.

On the said bench was a beautiful girl, her blond long hair shining despite the protection of the tree, her white smooth face clear of imperfections, akin to a sacred porcelain doll.

Taking a closer look, the figure was staring lifelessly at the sky, her unfocused enchanting blue eyes unable to catch its beauty, her sight taken and her life sealed to death by fate.

Tears fell from her lifeless eyes, her face unmoving as they fell down, leaving marks on her white dress.

She cried and cried and cried...till tears stopped pouring, completely dried out, she wanted to scream to the world, act upon the injustice she felt, but she couldn't. She never chose to be a carrier of the spell, never chose to have her sight taken away from her, never chose to leave her loving family, just to enter her death.

She felt powerless, weak, fragile, her death was inevitable...it was only a matter of time....should she accept her ugly fate? simply give up? Submit to its will?

In her despair, She felt the wind shift, the bench creaking as someone sat besides her, a pleasantly sweet scent followed.

"Is it difficult?" The man question, his voice soothing and Alluring to the ear

"...yes." she weakly answered, not knowing why herself.

"Do you hate it?"

She nodded wordlessly.

"Then don't give up."

"...why? It's meaningless..." Her head lowered in defeat, her 'hollow' eyes 'staring' at her hands.

It was then that The man's presence seemed to darken, not with malice but with an overwhelming force—like standing beneath a blood-red sky as the world held its breath. His gaze, unseen yet suffocating in its intensity, felt as if it could command the stars to shift.

Cassie felt it instantly. This was no ordinary man, her empty vision flickered, showing a glimpse of a king crowned by crimson flames who bowed to nothing, who had torn his destiny from the hands of the world, and molded it with fire and blood.

The weight of her vision pressed down on her, yet Cassie couldn't bring herself to recoil. Her trembling hands clenched into weak fists as the flicker of his image danced behind her sightless eyes—a figure wreathed in power, standing atop the ruins of all that had sought to contain him.

Then he finally spoke, his voice, though soft, carried the echo of something relentless.

"I once thought the same," he said, the crimson haze of his memory bleeding into her thoughts. "That struggle was pointless. That surrender was easier."

Cassie's breath hitched. She could feel the cold truth beneath his words—this was not pity. This was experience.

"And what changed?" she whispered, her voice fragile as glass.

His shadow shifted closer, and for a brief moment, it felt as though the very ground beneath them trembled in response.

"I died," he said, his tone neither mournful nor bitter, but calm—as if the act of losing himself had been nothing more than another step toward something greater. "And when I returned, I made the world remember."

Cassie lifted her head slowly, as if daring to face the weight of the force before her. The hollow ache in her chest flared, a distant echo of her own helplessness clawing at her ribs.

"I'm not like you," she admitted, the faintest tremor in her voice. "I don't have that kind of strength."

The man leaned forward, his unseen eyes locking with hers, their intensity like molten iron sinking into her skin.

"You don't need strength," he said, his words curling around her mind like silk laced with poison. "Not yet."

Cassie felt her heart pound faster. "Then what do I need?"

His voice was a whisper of velvet and flame.

"Resentment."

The word lingered between them, thick and suffocating.

"Resentment against the fate that dares to claim you," he continued, his tone dripping with quiet authority. "Let it fester. Let it burn through the weakness you cling to."

Cassie's nails dug into her palms, and for the first time in what felt like years, the faintest spark of heat lit within her chest.

His shadow loomed over her, yet instead of fear, she felt something else. A flicker of defiance.

"Then show me how," she said quietly, though her heart pounded violently in her chest.

The man got closer, the weight of his presence almost unbearable. "Good. There is no salvation in surrender." His crimson gaze—though unseen—felt like it pierced through her. "Fate is a liar, Cassie. And liars deserve no mercy."

She could feel the chains around her heart, the invisible bonds of helplessness she had carried for so long. But now, standing in the presence of this king, they felt brittle.

"What if fate fights back?"

A cruel smile tugged at the corners of his lips. "Then you break it. Again and again, until it learns to fear you."

Cassie's tears stopped falling. The cold, hollow ache within her began to burn, slowly but steadily, but the last worm of doubt was still barely alive.

"....what If I fail?" Her voice cracked, vulnerable yet laced with a faint tremble of resolve.

Cassie's fingers curled tighter against the fabric of her dress, her breath trembling as if the weight of his words had set her very soul ablaze. Her sightless eyes, once hollow and resigned, flickered faintly—embers struggling to rise from the ashes of despair, faint traces of light where there had only been endless darkness.

The man laughed softly, though the sound held nothing soft within it. It was like velvet brushed with blades, coiling around her, weaving through the cracks of her shattered will. His presence wasn't comforting; it was overwhelming, intoxicating, suffocating. He demanded not just her attention but her very surrender, urging her to let him fill the void within her.

"You will." His answer came swift, without hesitation, slicing through the silence like the edge of a knife. "And you will rise again. That is what separates the strong from the forgotten."

Cassie looked down at her trembling hands, her voice barely above a whisper, fragile and cracked like glass. "I'm tired of fighting…"

His gaze bore into her, unseen but unrelenting, a force as inescapable as gravity.

"Then let your rage fight for you," he said, his voice low, alluring, dripping with dark promise. "Let it burn away the weakness that binds you. Let it consume everything that dares to hold you back."

His words slithered through her mind, silken and dangerous, planting seeds of rebellion where despair had taken root.

For a moment, silence stretched between them, heavy and charged. The world around them—the gentle rustle of leaves, the distant trickle of the fountain—faded into nothingness. All that remained was him, his voice, and the inferno he was trying to ignite within her.

"You speak as if I can become like you," she murmured, her words trembling with the faintest flicker of hope, fear, and yearning.

He leaned closer, his presence pressing down on her, suffocating yet irresistible. His unseen eyes seemed to glow, their light searing into her as if branding her with his certainty.

"You can," he whispered, the words caressing her ears like a devil's secret. "You must."

Cassie shivered, her breath catching as she felt his hand brush lightly against her shoulder. The touch was fleeting, like the brush of a feather, yet it carried the weight of command, of expectation.

"Why?" she asked, her voice breaking, the question trembling with vulnerability.

His answer came without hesitation, sharp and cold as steel.

"Because I have use for warriors, not ghosts."

Cassie's heart pounded violently against her ribs. There was something dangerous in the way he spoke to her, something that made her feel exposed yet desired, seen yet judged.

"And if I refuse?" she asked, testing the boundaries of his allure, daring to challenge the force of him.

His smile was razor-sharp, cruel and unyielding. "Then you will stay here, weeping beneath this tree, forgotten by the world. A ghost, bound by chains of your own making."

His words sliced through her, cruel and merciless, yet they resonated with a truth she couldn't deny.

Her nails dug into her palms, leaving crescent-shaped marks on her skin. The hollow ache in her chest flared, a spark of something unfamiliar, something fierce.

"I don't want to be forgotten," she said, her voice trembling but resolute.

"Then fight."

His voice wrapped around her like a crown of thorns, seductive yet brutal.

"Tear apart the fate that seeks to bury you."

A single tear escaped from her clear eyes, but this tear wasn't born of despair. It burned like liquid fire, carving a path down her cheek.

Her lips parted, her voice soft but no longer fragile. "Will you guide me?"

For a moment, his gaze softened. Her figure blurred, overlapping with the ghost of another, Iris.

"I will lead," he said, his voice gentler now but no less commanding. "But you will walk."

Ares stood, towering over her, his shadow enveloping her in its dark, suffocating embrace.

Cassie exhaled slowly, the invisible chains that had bound her beginning to shatter, falling away one by one. The ember he had ignited in her chest was no longer a flicker but a flame, fragile yet relentless, refusing to die.

As he began to walk away, her voice called out, trembling with desire, longing, and something darker—a need to hold onto him, to the fire he had given her.

"…May I know your name?"

She already knew it. Of course, she did. Yet she asked, desperate to hear it from his lips, to seal his presence within her as if his name could anchor her to the path he had laid before her.

He paused at the garden's edge, his figure bathed in the dim, flickering light.

When he spoke, his voice was a whisper against her ear, soft yet resonating with a power that shook her to her core.

"I am Ares," he said, his tone a velvet blade, cutting through the stillness.

"The Scarlet King."

And then he was gone, his footsteps fading into the distance.

Cassie sat beneath the tree, her sightless eyes gazing upward. But this time, she did not see emptiness.

The flame within her burned brighter, twisting with madness and desire, drawing her toward the path he had promised—a path of fire, blood, and shattered chains.

For the first time, she did not feel powerless.

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Another chapter finished! I personally really like this one, tell me how I did xd

And happy late new years!

Peace be upon you!